Revealed Glory - Part 1

WELCOME

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” —John 1:14

We left off with a bleak picture of our condition when we turn away from God and to ourselves. The ugly repercussions of self-glorifying idolatry are seen all over the world of sport, maybe even on your campus or in your club. What can be done about it? At times it can seem such a daunting task to push back against the negative impacts of selfishness and ungodly ambition. The truth is the solution won’t come from inside of us; it has to come from somewhere else!

WORKOUT

Read John 1:14-17

Rather than leave us hopelessly trapped in the negative feedback loop of self-glorifying idolatry, God sent us His glory: no longer in a tent in the wilderness or in a building in Jerusalem but wrapped in flesh, the flesh of His one and only son, Jesus of Nazareth. The word here for “dwelt” among us is in the same word family as the Old Testament word for the tabernacle, the traveling tent of God’s presence made by Moses before the temple was built by Solomon. When we turned away from God’s glory for death-inducing idol worship, at the appointed time, God turned toward us. He mediates His glory through the life and ministry of Jesus. When God appeared to His people in the Old Covenant, access was extremely limited. After Moses, only the high priest could go all the way into God’s presence, and He could only do that once a year. But Jesus is the new and better tabernacle, the new and better temple.

In 1:18, John says that Jesus is “The one and only son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.” Jesus can mediate God’s glorious presence to us because He is both God and man. The temple was meant to be the place where Heaven and earth met, and where God’s people could access His forgiving and life-giving presence, but they could only go through the mediator of a priest.

• Have you ever considered the connection between God’s presence in the tabernacle/temple and God’s presence in Jesus? If not, take a minute to meditate on this reality.
• How does this reality shape the way you think about God’s glory and His presence? The way you think about worship?

Read Romans 5:1-2

Jesus’ ministry is much better than the temple or the priesthood. In Jesus, we can come directly to God, to both give Him glory and receive the blessing of His glorious presence. Notice what Paul says in verses 1 and 2, “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. We have also obtained access through him by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we boast in the hope of the glory of God.”

When we put our faith and trust in Jesus’ death and resurrection as the payment for and victory over sin, death, and evil, we are justified: declared not guilty. We are freed from the trap of self-glorifying idolatry. With new hearts empowered by the Holy Spirit, we have a new life set on a new trajectory: the hope of God’s glory. The hope that God will reveal his glory in and through us in this age, and the hope that in the age to come, “…the knowledge of his glory will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.” - Habakkuk 2:14

WRAP-UP

Hebrews 1:3 says, “The son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” When we see Jesus, we see God, the God who has not left us to our idolatrous pursuits but has instead pursued us, even while we turned away from him. Through a relationship with Jesus, we can move from chasing glory to experiencing God’s glory, and in turn, to finally fulfill our created purpose: to reflect His glory to the world and to reflect the praises of creation back to whom it belongs.

God’s Glory Revealed: Jesus is the full and final revelation of God and His glory.

God’s Glory Received: By turning from idols and trusting in the person and work of Jesus, we are welcomed back into the glorious presence of God.